Friday 29 November 2013 Worcester Wolves 118-102 Manchester Giants

Worcester Wolves have once more edged to the top of the British Basketball League, after overcoming Manchester Giants in a free-flowing game on Friday. A near-full house was on hand at the University of Worcester Arena to witness Wolves’ 118-102 victory, the BBL’s highest-scoring game of the season so far.

Point guard Zaire Taylor showed astonishing accuracy from three-point range, making eight of his nine attempts, and pouring in 37 points in total. He was accompanied in the big-scoring stakes by centre Will Creekmore who racked up 30 points, as well as grabbing an impressive 14 rebounds.

Manchester had the better of the early exchanges with two of their locally-born veterans, David Aliu and Yorick Williams, combining for their side’s first twelve points, on the way to an 11-17 lead after four minutes had been played.

The next basket came from Taylor, who had by then already bagged his third three-pointer of the evening, before a reply from Aliu. Taylor thrilled the crowd when freezing Giants defenders to allow Andreas Schreiber to slam home a sideways dunk, and Creekmore then opened his scoring account to level the match at 19-19.

The first quarter closed with Wolves ahead at 36-27, and there was no let-up in the scoring frenzy as the clash continued. By midway through the second period Taylor had incredibly nailed his seventh triple of the evening, helping his team to a healthy 56-37 advantage and leading Giants’ coach Jeff Jones to call for a timeout, finally giving both sets of players, and all the spectators, a chance to exhale.

A 68-52 half-time lead was gradually extended as the third quarter progressed. Forward Kalil Irving gratefully accepted consecutive assists from Creekmore and Taylor to slot home a double of scores, and Creekmore joined in the long-distance success, pushing the hosts further ahead to 83-62.

There was a touch of comedy as the last period approached when Taylor stole the ball away from former Worcester stalwart David Watts and gleefully galloped up the court. Without a defender in sight, Taylor bounced the ball upwards ready to dunk it through the hoop, only to fail to jump high enough to complete the move.

Although Manchester just about stayed in contention in the final quarter through continued successes from Williams and Aliu, Wolves’ return to professionalism saw them round off the victory. It was Taylor who had the honour of bringing up the century of points for his side, only finally taking a well-earned seat on the bench when he had missed from outside the arc for the very first time, with two minutes of the night remaining.

Paul James was pleased with the offensive display from his team, though concerned about having also conceded so many points, commenting: “Manchester didn’t go away. Though I’m very happy offensively, I’m not happy with our defensive play. Having said that, Giants came in having played very well lately, including only losing to Sheffield in overtime, so we knew it would be tough. David Aliu carried on his recent rich vein of form, scoring 20-something points tonight, so I’m pleased we got the job done.”

Looking ahead to Sunday afternoon’s match at the Durham Wildcats, James added: “Like the Giants, Durham are another team with smart unselfish players who move the ball well. We will certainly need to improve our defence on Sunday.”

As well as his 37 points, Taylor served up eight assists and grabbed four steals.  Aliu led the way for Manchester with 29 points.

Wolves’ match at Durham’s Newton Aycliffe Leisure Centre will tip off at 4pm. After that, the next scheduled games for the Wolves will be a double of games at the University of Worcester Arena during the Christmas period. London Lions will be the visitors on Friday 20 December, with Birmingham Knights making the short trip to Worcester on Saturday 28 December.